An earlier version of this essay was published here, on Diresom. This article is part of our “Reflecting on COVID-19” series.If you’d like to check out other articles in this series, click here. On February 19, 2020, I received the first of many phone calls from the media about a new South Korean religious movement known as…
This article is part of our “Reflecting on COVID-19” series.If you’d like to check out other articles in this series, click here. The devastation wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened concerns among human rights advocates that governments will use their police powers to suspend or severely curb fundamental rights in the name of public health, welfare,…
This is the third installment of a three-part series of essays that discuss the Jewish tradition’s answer to repairing the soul in the midst of wrongdoing, guilt, and shame. The first part used the biblical story of King David to illustrate the importance of taking ownership of one’s wrongdoing, though guilt alone is not enough…
The Trump administration is promoting new proposed rules on social service partnerships with faith-based organizations under the banner of religious freedom. A closer look, however, reveals that the proposals would actually eliminate certain religious liberty protections for social service beneficiaries, and that none of the Trump administration’s justifications for its actions holds water. To appreciate…
This is the second of a three-part series of essays that discuss the Jewish tradition’s answer to repairing the soul in the midst of wrongdoing, guilt, and shame. The first part used the biblical story of King David to illustrate the importance of taking ownership of one’s wrongdoing, though guilt alone is not enough to…
This is the first of a three-part series of essays that discuss the Jewish tradition’s answer to repairing the soul in the midst of wrongdoing, guilt, and shame. This first part uses the biblical story of King David to illustrate the importance of taking ownership of one’s wrongdoing; guilt alone is not enough. Part two…
Source: NIAID-RML/ Flickr CC.BY.2.0 This article is part of our “Reflecting on COVID-19” series.If you’d like to check out other articles in this series, click here. The author is a practicing surgeon who volunteered early in the pandemic to staff an expansion intensive care unit at a hospital in the northeast United States. The following…
Over the last few years, I have attempted to present a universal and coherent legal framework for the treatment of God, religion, and conscience by secular legal systems. This project is based on my objections to both traditional religious and current liberal approaches to religious freedom. The religious approach fails because it requires the concept…
In Israeli society, Haredim (ultra-Orthodox Jews) and traditional Arabs live within close proximity to one another. While these religiously, ethnically, and culturally differentiated groups do not typically interact with each other, women from both groups appear to share certain aspects of their lifestyles. Both live in relatively closed societies; both have relatively limited contact with…
Vijay Vinoth / Pexels In 2019 in early September, the Ethiopian government held an emergency meeting with leaders of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church to discuss the ongoing political and religious tension in the country. Since July 2018, thirty churches have been attacked across several regions in Ethiopia. More than half of those churches have burned to the…